The Draggedy Project – Drag and the Creation of Identity
Drag Origin Stories: Harry Hawk and Austin Grietz talk with gender performers about the origins of their drag personas.
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Anuj Vaidya – Dragging Species and Nationality
07/31/2016
Anuj Vaidya – Dragging Species and Nationality
Dragging Species? Harry and Austin’s conversation with Anuj Vaidya continues the Draggedy project by exploring the themes of not only gender, but also nationality and species, in drag. Anuj discusses his work from his first experience of dragging Bollywood actress Helen to his most recent work, which finds drag as a tool to discuss the radical possibilities of imagination. Anuj as Piya Tu in Bad Girl with a Heart of Gold. Anuj as Ruby in Bad Girl with a Heart of Gold. Anuj explains his drag history as starting with performances to the music of Helen, a popular Bollywood actress from the 1950s through the 1970s, for his family in his home nation of India. When he immigrated with his family to the United States at the age of 17, Anuj would retain in his mind the image of Helen as a symbol of his home nation and childhood, and would eventually end up performing drag as Helen yet again during his MFA program at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Nationality in Drag and in Bollywood Anuj as Monica in Bad Girl with a Heart of Gold. After immigrating to the United States and dealing with maintaining his own Indian identity in a new setting, Anuj looked back to the work of his childhood idols such as Helen in order to deconstruct the ways in which we look at identity and nationality. This became part of his MFA work, in which he used five characters portrayed by Helen in order to create a film which addressed the issue of nationality in an exceedingly globalized world. Anuj also found during this process that not only was he himself dragging Helen in this project, but that Helen herself had been dragging a specific type of Westernized femininity in each of the films she had portrayed. Drag was thus not entirely about gender, but about all different sorts of identity categories. Dragging Species? This conceptualization of drag as playing with different forms of identity would be carried through the rest of Anuj’s drag work, with the focus moving from nationality to issues of ecology and species. This change in theme reflects the evolution of Anuj’s own interests, as he explains that his drag is affected by what is happening for himself in the here and now, as all his art projects are. As his questions of national identity began to be resolved throughout his time in school, more questions surrounding ecology—including an interrogation of what it means to be human and how we all fit into the natural world—began to pop up for Anuj. This would come to influence the next pieces of Anuj’s work, as drag moved beyond gender and nationality but also to species. Anuj’s next project focused on ecological themes as told through the eyes of Miss Piggy, dragged by Anuj himself. Anuj as Miss Piggy in Diane Sawyer Live: An Exclusive Interview with Miss Piggy. Here, Miss Piggy is retelling the dream which motivated her to start her ecological film. Anuj as Miss Piggy in Diane Sawyer Live: An Exclusive Interview with Miss Piggy. Here, Miss Piggy rides a bike to power her camera for her most recent film project. Anuj’s work as Miss Piggy explored themes of ecology and nature, interrogating the relationship between humans and the natural world in which we exist while also exploring the very theme of what it means to be human and what it means to be animal. This project also explored the relationships humans have with their environment in its cinematographic techniques, using only renewable, “green” energy sources to power the recording equipment, including hand cranks and bicycle power. Part of the dream sequence from Diane Sawyer Live: An Exclusive Interview with Miss Piggy, in which several culture’s mythologies of nature converge. The Radical Possibilities of Drag Anuj and Praba dragging their own radical versions of larvae in Larval Rock Stars. Anuj’s drag work continued to evolve after his work as Miss Piggy, and continued to explore more ecological themes. His most recent work, Larval Rock Stars, is a collaboration with Colombian diasporic artist Praba Pilar, and focuses on the radical possibilities within each of us as the two artists drag themselves as literal larvae. In this way, the form of drag is dissected and presented to the audience as the art of becoming that which we yearn to be—as the artists are literally dragging larvae, a metaphor for the transformative power of our own selves. This is ultimately what drag is to Anuj: the radical possibilities of becoming anything which we aim to be, and the state of being in this transformation for all of our lives. Anuj and Praba in Larval Rock Stars, posing as larvae who have come to inform us that the human experiment was a failure. To keep up to date with everything that Anuj is working on, please be sure to check out his website by clicking . His films, and can also be found on Anuj's website. Be sure to follow Harry and Austin on Twitter at @hhawk and @rainbowsquirtle, respectively. And be sure to follow Talking About Everything and The Draggedy Project on Stitcher Radio and iTunes! Keep checking back to www.draggedy.com for more episodes, pictures of gender performers, and links to more information about the artists we cover.
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Talking with Villinda Vile Horror Entertainer Episode 3
06/28/2016
Talking with Villinda Vile Horror Entertainer Episode 3
A conversation with Sal Virelli about the creation and development of Villinda Vile. Sal is a horror drag performer from Michigan and is 19 years old and is a polished entertainer and a rising star in the drag community. He created Villinda and other drag personas, as well as creating clothing of his own design and acting in community theater. Sal describes a dark past with which he used to build and embellish the characters Linda and Villinda. Born and raised in Michigan Sal has explored community theater, sewing and fashion. Sal's drag persona Villinda Vile entertains at an annual Michigan haunted "house." Sal has taken his self proclaimed, "dark past" and used it as inspiration for scaring the paying public. You can find on Facebook and Sal Virelli on . Sal's is also on Instagram. Listen to other conversations and view photographs about gender artists on a project created by @ and @ with stories releasing throughout the summer of 2016.
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Timothy French Talks About Stefani Victoria Spears Episode 2
06/26/2016
Timothy French Talks About Stefani Victoria Spears Episode 2
Timothy French is a dancer, choreographer, and fashion merchandiser out of New York City whose drag persona is Stefani Victoria Spears. Learn about Timothy and Stefani in Harry’s and Austin’s this installment of The Draggedy Project. Timothy discusses the origins of his performance persona in this conversation while also highlighting some of the struggles of being a gender performer as well as the possibilities that he sees within the world of drag and gender performance. Drag Persona Origins Like many other queens, Timothy’s drag experience began as a Halloween costume at the request of friends. Living in Chicago at the time, Timothy was friends with many drag and gender performers in the community, and often did choreography work for their shows. They convinced him to try doing drag one year for Halloween, and Timothy thus created a costume based after one of his many idols, Lady Gaga. Timothy discusses his opportunity to meet Gaga, as well as the influence of drag and gender artistry in her own work, during our conversation. Transitions and Growth Shortly after he started doing drag, Timothy moved from Chicago to New York City to pursue other professional goals. This starts a conversation about the differences between the art scenes within the two cities, and also leads to a discussion of some of the things that drag has been able to do for Timothy during this move. This reflects the wider discussion around the ultimate possibilities of drag and gender artistry—besides making a statement, Timothy feels that an integral part of gender artistry is self-improvement, and that his own drag work has helped him to become more comfortable in his own skin and allowed him to more fully and openly express himself. Influences - External and Internal The discussion then turns to specific events which have influenced the direction of Timothy’s gender artistry, most notably the New York City Mermaid Parade and the upcoming Heritage of Pride Parade. This discussion allows for Timothy to explain some of his influences in designing his costumes, which include some unusual material from Timothy’s professional life, such as store window designs which he studies as a part of his career in fashion merchandising. Timothy is currently employed by The Gap and credits their inclusive support for him and LGBTQ issues as an important turning point in his self acceptance. This leads to a discussion of the culmination of the different aspects of Timothy’s life in his drag career. Gender artistry is a multidimensional art form, which combines several different forms of art in creating a cohesive whole. Timothy is well aware of this fact, and his multitudinous artistic backgrounds have helped further his drag career. Looking to the Future Our discussion ends with a conversation about the future of drag and the possibilities which gender artistry holds. Timothy includes some comments about the recent popularity of shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, which act as a sort of double-edged sword for the drag and gender performance communities. On the one hand, shows such as Drag Race have popularized the world of gender performance and have introduced this incredible art form to thousands of people across the nation and the world. But on the other hand, this popularization has created a shift in the drag world, in which certain forms of gender performance are now seen as more legitimate in a mainstream view than others. This interesting contradiction is discussed by Timothy in light of his experience with auditioning for the show. To keep up to date with everything that Timothy is working on, follow him on , , and Twitter at . Be sure to follow Harry and Austin on Twitter at @ and @, respectively. And be sure to follow Talking About Everything and The Draggedy Project on Stitcher Radio and iTunes! Keep checking back to for more episodes, pictures of gender performers, and links to more information about the artists we cover. More images of Timothy & Stefani
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Harry & Austin Talk About The Draggedy Project – Episode 1
06/20/2016
Harry & Austin Talk About The Draggedy Project – Episode 1
Harry’s and Austin’s first conversation about the scope of . They discuss the differences between how drag is most generally portrayed in mainstream media and the radical possibilities which drag presents. The conversation also focuses on some of the evolutions of drag as an art form, including its movement from small-scale performances at gay clubs to wider audiences in theatres and mainstream media, such as . The Power of Drag Harry and Austin start their discussion by talking about the possibilities of drag, especially in how drag is able to comment on several different social issues apart from just gender. Austin believes that drag is able to explore all kinds of themes, including what it means to have a national identity, what it means to grow older, and what it means to be human in general. Word Choice Harry and Austin then discuss some of the terminology used in the world of drag, debating the terminology of “drag” between “gender artistry” or “gender performance,” and the politics of using such terminology within circles of gender performers. The movement from gay bars to more specific arenas for drag artistry is something that has certainly been happening for a while now, but the popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race and its subsequent Battle of the Seasons tours has certainly allowed drag to move out of the bar scene and into a scene that is generally more singular in its focus on drag. However, Austin discusses how there has always been an underground scene which has completely embraced the more political and stand-alone aspects of drag and which has been existing for quite some time as relatively separate from the bar scene. Austin and Harry are also able to discuss how the world of theatre has influenced drag and has in some ways legitimized drag in the eyes of the mainstream media. Learning about Drag After discussing some of the current trends in the drag scene, Harry and Austin each discuss the first time they were fully aware of the art of gender performance. First drag or gender performance experiences are almost always memorable, and there is no difference for the first drag memories of Harry and Austin. Sharing these memories leads to a discussion on the history of drag, from far-away history to more modern media history. Trends in Drag The conversation then turns back to more modern trends in the world of gender performance, focusing on different types of gender portrayals—between ultra-glamorous looks to everyday, exceptionally mundane looks. This turns to a discussion of the binary between the authentic and the inauthentic—can authenticity truly be achieved when using seemingly inauthentic means such as make-up, padding, and clothing choices? The conversation closes with a discussion of what The Draggedy Project entails—a discussion with gender performers about what their intentions are in their gender performances, the origins of their performance personas, and how the culture of gender performance interacts with the culture in which we live today. Thanks Be sure to follow Harry and Austin on Twitter at @ and @, respectively. And be sure to follow Talking About Everything and The Draggedy Project on Stitcher Radio and iTunes! Keep checking back to for more episodes, pictures of gender performers, and links to more information about the artists we cover. Austin writes: These performances come at a time influenced by video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the social graph in which performance itself has become elevated and idealized. This idealized form of performance also involves a high level of authenticity, which has become necessary for the popularization of any performer in today’s digital age. The gender performer has a unique role in this phenomenon, in that they both posses a high level of performance quality and are authentic in their self-expression, despite the assertion that gender performance is an attempt to “imitate.” [Our] conversations shall focus not only on their performance choices and how such choices reflect public ideology surrounding gender, but also on how such choices reflect ideas surrounding other social constructions. These conversations will also attempt to investigate how the personal lives of gender performers, as well as the culture of our time, interact to create the final performance as presented to an audience.
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